Today was the first media availability for the UT Men’s Basketball team since the firing of HC Chris Beard. To start the presser, G Marcus Carr, F Brock Cunningham and F Timmy Allen (happy birthday) were asked a series of questions, mainly regarding the elephant in the room of Chris Beard’s absence. The phrase and overall message of the day was “control what we can control”. The players were asked about dealing with the Beard suspension/firing specifically and said there was an initial “shock and surprise” but that the team, according to Carr, has banded together. Cunningham added that “it’s still our team” and said that they can “weather any storm” while the goals have remained the same. They were next asked what they missed most about coach Beard, the answer for Carr being his presence. He adds though that, as a team, the “expectations and standards are still the same”. The players were asked if new HC Rodney Terry had somewhat of a “therapist” role and if the feeling around the team is more relaxed with him at the helm. Cunningham stated “different is a better word, but not relaxed by any means”. Allen added that “we have a culture here, and that culture is going to stay…”. Moving more towards basketball matters, the players mentioned the strong defensive practice they had after falling to Kansas State 116-103 last week before defeating Oklahoma State on Saturday 56-46 and said that HC Rodney Terry is a “defensive-minded coach”. Marcus Carr, referencing the win against the Cowboys, stated “when we [Texas] get to the paint, we are a successful team” and says the paint is where they “thrive”. Overall, I think Timmy Allen’s quote at the end of their conference sums up the next few weeks for the Horns: “We are Texas, we are supposed to be used to the noise”.
Next, HC Rodney Terry took the stage. If you’re wondering what he was mainly asked about, I am sure you could guess it yourself. Coach Terry was asked about that “therapist” role and said he is there to “help the young men grow” and that there are many different “hats” to wear as the head coach right now. The two big themes here were positivity and living in the moment. Throughout his conference, Terry reiterated how he likes to “live where his feet are”, how this time in conference play is “a marathon, not a sprint” and how he “doesn’t like negative energy”. Terry also stated the importance of practice as the players “will never have anything harder than what you have to go through in practice”. Being later asked about his next opponent in the TCU Horned Frogs, he said they “play fast in transition… force a lot of turnovers… put a lot of pressure on you at the basket”. He was lastly asked about Chris Beard altogether and his involvement with the team, saying that “Chris will always be a brother to me… he wants this team to do special things… he doesn’t want to be a distraction… but would love to throw some advice here or there”.
The Longhorns next take on TCU in Austin on Wednesday at 8 pm.
